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faither
11-05-2002, 06:15 PM
Just got the Special Ed. WD 120GB from Dell. I'm very happy with how I've got everything configured on my main box, though.

Here's my question, can I set the new drive as a slave and then Ghost my current to my new and then swap them? I'd hate to have to reinstall everything all over again. Both drives are WD, current is a 40GB. Thanks!
faither
11-06-2002, 12:21 PM
If Ghost won't do the trick, does anyone have a suggestion for how I might be able to proceed short of re-installing anything?
Bires
11-06-2002, 02:04 PM
It will work, if you copy partition to partition.

I cant remember what version automatically resizes the partitions, so get a copy (any version) of partition magic and resize your partition to fill the 120GB of your new drive.

If you were running Win98, you could just disable the swap file and "select all-->copy--paste."
GilbertsGrape
11-06-2002, 02:27 PM
Norton Ghost will do that i have done it b4 look in help file for more info
seqiro
11-06-2002, 09:37 PM
I used the latest version of Ghost about two weeks ago to transfer a 20GB drive running Windows XP to a 40GB drive and it worked flawlessly. The new drive was a single 40GB partition with a perfectly booting WinXP OS on it.
faither
11-07-2002, 02:45 AM
Did you install XP on the new drive before Ghosting the 20GB to it or was it just formatted?
seqiro
11-07-2002, 05:41 AM
It was just a formatted blank drive. Saved me a whole lot of work!
faither
11-07-2002, 06:04 AM
Thanks! I'll try it tonight.
faither
11-08-2002, 09:23 AM
Current situation: 80GB WD with two partitions; "C:\" 30GB which contains XP and all applications and data, and "D:\" 50GB which contains all pictures, MP3s, etc. Looking to install the Special Edition 120GB drive and copy the results of "C:" without having to reinstall everything. I'm running an Athlon XP2100+ on a Gigabyte 7VAXP KT400, 1GB Corsair PC3200. System is rock solid and quick.

The bottom line is that it didn't work. I created a partition (primary) on the new drive that was the same size as the partition on which XP is now installed. I used Ghost 2002 (haven't yet gotten my free SystemWorks 2003) to do the copy using "Local - Partition - Partition." It seemed to copy everything but when I tried to boot from the new drive, while it would POST and recognize the new drive it would not boot into XP.

I removed the partition and tonight will try to just copy "C:" to the whole drive and if it works I'll partition using Partition Magic.

On a separate note, while my board is brand-spanking new, the WD install disk placed EZ-BIOS on my system, saying that my BIOS could not handle 120GB. It should be able to. After i removed the partition from the drive, I uninstalled EX-BIOS. Question, has anyone ever had a problem with EZ-BIOS?
seqiro
11-08-2002, 09:56 AM
Originally posted by DarkFury
Now I guess we need Bires or seqiro to come back in here and tell us what version of the software they was using...

Ghost 2003. :)
faither
11-08-2002, 10:38 AM
The partitions were exactly the same size (29,996.3MB). Maybe I'll wait until Ghost 2003 gets here to install the drive (or maybe I'll pick it up from Staples or J&R at lunch). :D I guess I could always go the clean install route. :rolleyes:
GilbertsGrape
11-08-2002, 10:43 AM
I have done this with Ghost 2002. I had to do ghostpe.exe/someSwitch

I used it with my current system. I took my OS on my 7gb drive and imaged it and stored the image files on my 120gb se drive (on a fat partition) and then I took out my 7gb dieing drive and installed a 40gb drive and restored the image off of the 120gb drive onto the 40gb drive using ghost 2002

(Hint- I keep a 10 GB FAT partition on my WD 120se drive just to keep Ghost images of my main drive on just incase my system C drive ever decided to die.

PS. look in the help file to find the proper switch to use with ghost 2002

PPS. Ez-bios sucks ... just flash your bios to the newest version and your WD120 se drive should be recognized. That EZ bios is probably your problem when trying to Ghost your system drive. That EZ-Bios messes with your MBR. And tells your system how big the drives really are and fools your Bios into thinking they are smaller drives that are recognizable and Ghost may not work properly in this situation.
faither
11-08-2002, 07:47 PM
I think EZ-BIOS was the problem. My board has no problem with a 120GB HD and the piece of crap "utility" seemed to have mucked-up everything. I was able to Ghost both partitions of my primary drive to the 120GB WD. Ghost set the partitions on the new drive proportionate to the old. Everything was copied, I switched the jumpers and cable and I'm cooking with gas.

Of course, though, there's a glitch. When I get into XP, it recognizes the primary partition of the new drive to be my system disk. Okay. But...it's still referring to it as "G" not "C". Accordingly, the second partition on the new drive is referred to as "H", when you'd really think of it as "D."

When I tried to change the drive letter assignment in the Disk Management Tools, it says you can't change the designation/letter of the system disk.

Next question....Is there a way to switch G & H to C & D and vice versa??? Thanks.
faither
11-08-2002, 08:13 PM
Got it!!!! Found it here (http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=108). :happy: